BLACK INK CREW NY SEASON 10 RECAP: FLORIDA MAN
By Sidra Lackey
Black Ink Crew NY episode 8, season 10 starts off with the Black Ink crew of: Ceaser, Ted, Puma, Tatti, Young Bae, Krystal and Rok, Alex, Spyder, Bux and Vanity — in Orlando for a “Black Ink Bootcamp” trip. Ceaser reminisces that Black Ink Orlando was the first Black Ink that expanded outside of New York. He, Ted and Puma reflect on how much “hard work, heartache and struggles” the rest of the crew doesn’t know about with their Orlando shop. Ceaser says the trip is a, “fork in the road” and will show who is, “really mentally there.” Puma calls the trip, “Black Ink hell week.”
The crew all gets together in one of the fancy houses they’re staying at for their trip. Ceaser announces, “Welcome to Black Ink Bootcamp!” Alex asks where’s Tatti and Ceaser fires back, “You tell me where she is?” since she thought it was, “cute not to come to a mandatory meeting.” He tells everyone there’s going to a suggestion box and hands out suggestion cards so they can anonymously tell him what’s right and wrong with Black Ink and what would improve it. Off camera, Young Bae scoffs, “how about inviting hard working employees who are loyal to the shop?” Ceaser swears, “I won’t fire anyone” and Young Bae does not joke in saying, “He’s lying.” Everyone nervously laughs and Ceaser tries to assure them, he’s trying to figure out, “who is going to grow with Black Ink.” The crew starts to write and Ceaser jokes to Rok, “is your spelling right? Are you counting letters?” Rok looks embarrassed and says he’s going to show everyone there’s more to him and how he’s a businessman. Ceaser also teases Rok telling him, “no overnight stays,” referring to Krystal. Spyder agrees saying, “this is not booty camp!”
The crew splits up and goes to separate houses: the girl’s house and the guy’s house. At the girl’s house, Young Bae races to find the best room. Krystal notices there’s no alcohol in the house saying, “There’s no liquor. This is really a bootcamp.” In the guy’s house there’s one room that looks like it’s fit for a child. The guy crew all joke that the room is perfect for Rok.
The entire crew gets together for dinner later. While eating, the suggestion box is pulled out and Puma reads the first suggestion: “Ted needs to stop making sure of Rok.” Krystal likes it but everyone else laughs. Ted flat out says no, he’s funny and that Rok makes it so easy to make fun of him. More suggestions are read out, mostly silly and Puma says, “they’re stupid and got nothing to do with Black Ink.” Then Ceaser reads one that Bux bluntly wrote: “It’s hard to accept I lost a friend in the shop.” Bux explains he wrote it to clear the air. Ceaser says to talk about it and how Spyder is his, “road dog.” Spyder clarifies, “was.” Bux calls Spyder his brother. Spyder says what Bux did was, “unforgivable” the moment his wife was mentioned and there’s nothing to mend. Bux says he’s sorry he let a woman come in between their friendship. Ceaser tells them both, “time heals all wounds.”
And then Tatti struts in. Everyone is shocked. She jokes she should have brought her sage with all the bad energy in the room. Ceaser tells her she wasn’t invited and doesn’t have to be at Black Ink at all. The two go back and forth arguing until Ceaser says he’s done with dinner and starts to leave. Tatti tells him she’s tired of everyone opening Black Ink shops but her. Ceaser says, “I owe you nothing” and how she just beat a fed case. Tatti tells him she only took one day off and he yells at her that as an apprentice, “never take no days off!” He points out to her,“these motherf**kers don’t like you” — referring to the rest of the crew. Vanity admits that she had issues in the past with Tatti but she told that to Ceaser in private. Young Bae ends up taking Tatti outside to cool things down.
The next day, Tatti is upbeat and says she’s going to stay to prove herself “once again” to Ceaser. Meanwhile, Ted and Spyder have a talk. Ted asks him how is he going to work alongside Bux with all the tension between them. Spyder says, “the new Spyder knows how to access the situation before flipping out.” And he can be professional around Bux. Ted tells him if Ceaser and Puma could squash their beef then he and Bux could too in the future. But Spyder disagrees. “Once a friend becomes an enemy, you leave them there,” he declares.
At Black Ink Orlando, Ceaser welcomes everyone to: “the first day of Black Ink Bootcamp!” He says that the night before is behind them. He jokes that at the end of the day they may hate him. Young Bae retorts, “We already hate you,” and everyone laughs. Ceaser tells the crew the backstory of Black Ink Orlando and how it was through that shop that he developed multiple out of state Black Ink shops. He then explains the first activity of the trip: “teams are going to go on a scavenger hunt that leads to a tattoo.”
It goes down in the DMs? 📲 NAHHHHH. ❌ At Black Ink it goes down in the BATHROOMS. 🚻 #BlackInkCrew pic.twitter.com/pHWd4I4Ck5
— Black Ink Crew (@BlackInkCrew) December 7, 2022
Then to everyone’s surprise, the team captains come into the shop: Nychelle and Draya, of Black Ink Chicago. Everyone welcomes them and they begin to pick who they want on their teams. Draya picks first and her first pick is: Tatti, which makes Tatti feel special. She also chooses: Young Bae, Spyder and Rok. Nychelle’s team consists of: Krystal, Alex, Bux and Vanity. Puma explains how the scavenger hunt works: they’re given clues (which are moments that happened at Black Ink over the years) that lead to a puzzle that’s a tattoo that they have to tattoo on a client. Both team captains are confident their team will win with who they chose to be on their team.
Team Draya’s first clue is: “Your next riddle can be found locked safely with a register. Keep your hands off the cash or be exiled like Walt.” The team figures out the register is where they will find a piece of the puzzle for their tattoo. Team Nychelle’s first clue is: “A trip down memory lane can bring up strong feelings. Just make sure when Don is in the shop you have high ceilings.” The team figures out somewhere in the ceiling is where they will find a piece of the puzzle for their tattoo.
Team Draya’s second clue is: “This place is deemed exit only, not meant for boom-boom, but even love can happen in the bathroom.” The team figures out the bathroom is where they will find a piece of the puzzle for their tattoo. Team Nychelle’s second clue is: “Possibly the shop’s best artist - talent is hard to fake - she’s full of surprises like jumping out of a cake.” The team figures out it’s Young Bae mentioned in the clue and the cake near the shop’s window is where they find a piece of the puzzle for their tattoo.
Team Draya’s third clue is: “Forever a day one, never a zero, calling all the shots, she’s the crew’s hero.” The team gets this special clue from Treiva Williams, an executive producer of Black Ink who is dressed up in a superhero’s costume in the shop. Team Nychelle’s third clue is: “From the windows to the wall, the floor to the sofa, more cushion for the pushin’, just flip them s***s over.” The team figures out under the couch is where the next piece of the puzzle is for their tattoo.
Team Draya’s fourth clue is: “He’s all about his green, his bread, his cheese. You might be thinking salad - but we’re talking about Ceaser.” The team figures out Ceaser is the answer and go to him for the next clue. Team Nychelle’s fourth clue is: “Rome wasn’t built in a day. Blank Ink wasn’t either, go find your king, all hail Ceaser.” The team figures out Ceaser is the answer and go to him for the next clue.
Both teams get the last clue from Ceaser: “A tattoo is a work of art. Brushes and paints are your tattoo kits. You’ll find your next clue where your money sits!”’
The teams race to tattoo stations in the shop where the last piece of the puzzle is for them to put the tattoo together. Also a client is waiting for each team. Team Draya puts together a chess knight piece. Team Nychelle puts together a chess pawn piece. Young Bae is chosen to do the tattoo because she’s, “the fastest and best” — in her own words. And Krystal is chosen to do the tattoo for her team. Young Bae tattoos a knight with a geometric pattern and a heart in the middle while Krystal tattoos a black and grey realistic pawn.
After the tattoos are done, Ceaser checks them out and says both Young Bae and Krystal did great. He declares there’s no winner and that it was just, “an exercise.” Spyder says it’s bulls**t. Alex says there definitely has to be a winner. Krystal says her nerves were up for nothing. Rok says, “we’re all MVPs” and Ceaser groans with Ted and Puma. Ceaser asks Krystal, “Can’t you teach him?”
The final scene in this episode of Black Ink Crew NY shows the crew sans Ceaser, Ted and Puma, at a bar. The crew seems to be having fun at first, talking about the trip so far and making jokes about Ceaser as a boss. But when Vanity says, “not everyone is going to make it,” before the trip is over, Tatti becomes bothered and believes the quip is directed at her. She asks, “who hired her as Ceaser’s understudy?” Tatti notes Young Bae was the only one who talked to her since the night before. Tatti tells Young Bae she thinks Vanity and Krystal are throwing shade her way. Young Bae suggests she, “put it in the open” and then move on. “Talk like an adult. Be passionate. Not loud,” she adds. She speaks up on Tatti’s behalf and announces to the rest of the crew, “Tatti has a question.” Tatti then asks everyone else bluntly, “Do y'all f**k with me or not?” Krystal says she doesn’t have a problem with Tatti, off camera. But Vanity and Tatti start to argue back and forth. Someone screams, “what are you doing?” The argument ends with the bar being torn apart, chairs and drink glasses thrown everywhere. There’s an ambulance outside. The producer Treiva Williams is called in and she rages, “You hit someone?!” She says the show is going to be, “shut down over dumb s**t.”
Black Ink Crew NY episode 9 sneak peek shows: Tatti and Young Bae talking and Tatti trying to make light of the situation saying, “I’m glad I didn’t drink,” the crew feeding alligators and Ceaser having a meeting with the crew in which he tells them: “You put my brand at risk,” followed by telling someone or everyone, “effective immediately, officially fired…”